On Friday afternoon about 50 people gathered at a three-hour finalist candidates forum for the next director of Boulder County Parks & Open Space. The forum was held at Beech Shelter, near the Left Hand Trailhead on Neva Road in Longmont.
“For me, this event is about candidates getting an opportunity to answer some of the hardest questions that our department faces, and doing that in front of our staff and the community,” said Jeff Moline, BCPOS resource planning division manager and interim co-director.
Written feedback on the candidates was solicited from attendees after the event, which included BCPOS staff, members of the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee, county employees from other departments and roughly 15 members of the general public.
“It’s specific department heads who serve at the pleasure of the commissioners where this kind of public feedback process is initiated,” said Vivienne Jannatpour, public information and engagement manager with Boulder County Parks and Open Space.
Candidate feedback from the public can also be submitted online until midnight Sunday, July 25 on the Feedback on Boulder County Parks & Open Space Director Candidates webpage. Finalist bios and 10-minute prerecorded versions of Friday’s presentations can be viewed at Boulder County’s Parks & Open Space Director Search.
Each candidate had 20 minutes to address current department concerns by answering the following question: “What do you see as the appropriate weight to give habitat protection, agricultural, and recreational uses of county open space lands? Why?”
“I’m a conservationist,” said Doug Romig, Deputy Director for Polk County Conservation in Grainger, Iowa. Romig, who spoke first, highlighted projects from his 31 year career in parks and recreation, including restoration of a major lake from strip mining, the reintroduction of species, and harvesting seeds from remnant prairie. Romig described his “get the voices heard” approach to projects and policy, placing a high value on citizen engagement and input. Romig also described a core commitment to personal accessibility, such as putting his personal phone number on his business card and an “open door/stop-what-I’m-doing-and-listen-to-you” approach to staff concerns.
BCPOS Manager of the Resource Management Division Therese Glowacki, who’s been with the department for 22 years, spoke next. Glowacki began by discussing her Peace Corps experience in Africa, where she first learned how to blend the needs of people with the needs of the environment. She enumerated a long list of accomplishments at BCPOS, stressing her ability to handle issues such as the maintenance backlog, increasing access to and connectivity between trails to reduce the need to drive, and creating greater diversity among staff, volunteers, visitors, and in educational outreach. Glowacki’s insider knowledge was evident with references to the county’s Soil Revolution conferences and CRISP (Cultural Responsiveness and Inclusion Strategic Plan for the Boulder County Parks & Open Space Department).
Kurt Carlson, Open Space and Trails Operations Manager for Adams County Parks, highlighted his background in recreation and agriculture, including working on his family’s and other farms, and his fourth generation Lyons roots. Describing himself as a “fighter,” Carlson made clear that habitat protection, including soil conservation, erosion control, wildlife corridors and protecting pollinators, is his number one priority. Carlson supported moving away from GMOs on county lands as much as we can, while also noting issues with organic agriculture, such as the potential exposure of root vegetables to bacteria from incompletely composted manure. Carlson took a broad view of diversity, noting that we embrace diversity in everything from financial portfolios to agricultural crops. Diversity provides insights and perspectives and makes everything more resilient, he said.
Following their presentations, candidates offered rapid two-minute responses to four sets of questions: the desire for more trails, transitioning county agricultural lands away from genetically modified corn and sugar beets, managing BCPOS staff burnout, and increasing diversity, equity and inclusion. The questions were consolidated from community submissions prior to the event.
In the final two minutes each explained why they were the best candidate to become the new director.
After listening to the first two candidates, Boulder’s Sue Cass, long term volunteer naturalist with BCPOS and a Parks and Open Space Advisory Council member, was feeling torn.
“I was very impressed with the first gentleman (Romig). He had a smooth and easygoing manner about him, he seemed well qualified,” Cass said. “Therese — I’ve known her for decades, in her service with BCPOS. We work very closely with county staff. Of course, my heart would be very delighted to see her as the new director, but my head is trying to stay open.”
The finalist candidates were selected by County Commissioners Matt Jones, Claire Levy and Marta Loachamin and County Administrator Jana Petersen following an interviewing process involving county employees as well as community partners. A national recruiting effort for the position was led by CPS HR Consulting, Jannatpour said.
“We’re hoping to hear in the next two to three weeks on a hiring decision,” host Janis Whisman, BCPOS real estate division manager and interim co-director. That decision will be made by the Boulder County commissioners.
